Monday, March 22, 2010

Gluten Free Honey Oat Bread Recipe

I generally make gluten free bread once a week. I have 2-3 basic yeast bread recipes that I use and nearly every week I end up creating a variation of one of those recipes.
This week my creation is a simple yeast bread made with the addition of honey, oats, and as always my favorite ground flax seeds for extra fiber.

My sweetener of choice lately has been honey. It’s easy to find, it’s easy to get locally and it’s available in nearly every grocery store around. I also just love the taste.

Oats are an incredibly healthy source of whole grains and fiber. With the availability of gluten free oats through Bob’s Red Mill, I add them into nearly everything I bake!

Today’s bread is simple to make. It’s a variation of Bette Hagman recipe used here. Generally when you make gluten free bread, you have a relatively long list of ingredients. Please don’t let ingredients get in the way of making homemade bread. If you can make a boxed cake mix, you can make gluten free bread. I promise it really is not as hard as you might imagine!

Mixing the Dough:
Add the proofed yeast mixture to your wet ingredients. Either using a stand mixer or a large bowl and a wooden spoon: slowly stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. If mixing by hand stir continuously until the dough is like a VERY thick cake batter. You need to mix it for several minutes to allow the xanthan gum to work into the dough. If using a stand mixer, mix on medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes.

Letting the dough rise:
Spritz an 8 ½ x 4 ½ loaf pan with non-stick spray or olive oil. Using a spatula pour the bread dough into the loaf pan, and shape with the spatula. You may need to wet the spatula with water so it will not stick to the dough to shape the loaf. Cover the pan with a tea towel -or- cover loosely with plastic wrap that has been spritzed with non-stick spray or olive oil (so it will not stick to the dough if it touches it).
Allow the bread dough to rise in a warm space for 2-3 hours(1 - 2 hours) until it doubled in size. If you are using an 8 ½ x 4 ½ loaf pan, the dough should rise about 1-2” above the lip of the pan. In the pictures above, I used a much larger pan, so it did not rise as high as a normal loaf would.

** Alternately, if you do not want to wait several hours for your dough to rise, you can preheat your oven to 200 degrees. CUT IT OFF, and then place your loaf loosely with plastic wrap that has been spritzed with non-stick spray or olive oil, in the oven and allow it to rise for ½ hour to 45 minutes until doubled.

Baking the bread:
Once your dough has doubled, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Remove the covering from the loaf and bake for 25-35 minutes. If the bread begins to brown more than desired, place a sheet of aluminum foil over the loaf and continue baking.
The bread will be done when the internal temperature is between 190-200 degrees. Test the bread with a food thermometer.
Allow to cool completely before slicing.
Bread will keep on the counter in a ziplock bag for 2-3 days, after 3 days, slice and freeze the remaining loaf.

Carrie’s Notes:
Feel free to create a round loaf, a free form loaf, etc… in the baking pan of choice. The recommended size for the best loaf is an 8 ½ x 4 ½ loaf pan which creates a 1 lb. loaf of bread.
This is a small loaf.
I prefer allowing the bread to rise for several hours on the counter as opposed to using the oven. This creates a flavor and texture that is more like “bread” to me.

This bread is AMAZING! I just pulled a loaf out of the oven 10 minutes ago and already slicing into it! Haha, I'm ripping it to shreads as it is so soft and delicate, but I can't resist bread straight from the oven. My husband had a bite and gave a gluten-eater's thumbs up! Thanks for sharing this recipe with us. No more overprice Udi's for me!Trish xx

Hi My little girl is GF and loves Udi's bread-it is the most like wheat- have you any idea how to do a bread that would tast so much like Udis that she wouldn't miss it? thanks this is a great site-I am inspired to bake again,Teresa Portland OR

I have never used ground flax seeds. Is it like a flour in texture, such that it would make up part of the necessary flour for the dry/liquid balance to be right? Or is it just added fiber that might affect the flavor and nutritional value but not the makeup of the loaf if it were not there? Not that I have a need to omit it -- just want to understand what it does in a recipe like this -- what part it plays.

OMG I made this loaf today and it was amazing! It did fall a little bit but it is soft and moist in the middle, it's not falling apart and it tastes SOOO much better than store bought gluten free bread! I will never buy it again! Thank you! Love your website!

Oh my goodness! This was delicious! I made this last night once getting home from work only to have a wicked thunderstorm hit us. Needless to say, we lost a few electronics, part of the power pole, internet and power. (totally NOT fun!) Thankfully the power man got the power on in time for the bread to bake! It made a delicious bed time snack! (Since calories don't count when you can't see them and ice cream was for dinner) The only problem I've been having is that my yeast will rise, and then during baking it falls.

This bread is really good. My younger brother, who gets put out with me not allowing gluten in the house, actually likes it. He says it tastes just like the gluten-packed oatmeal bread I used to make. It did definitely fall, but the texture was still great. I normally don't use rice or sorghum flour, as I'm an almond and coconut flour person, but this turned out great. I think the next time I make it I'll use a few more oats.